Rudyard Kipling"
āWhen you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldierā
General Douglas MacArthur"
āWe are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.ā
āIt is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.ā āOld soldiers never die; they just fade away.
āThe soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.ā
āMay God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .ā āThe object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
āNobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
āIt is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
Anwar should not revoke Trump invitation By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Monday, October 06, 2025
Malaysiakini : But the reality is that Asean leaders are no doubt welcoming this
news as a chance for facetime (for whatever reasons) or to āmake a dealā
with probably the biggest kleptocrat in the world, and the president
who truly embodies the notion that cash is king.
Itās about Asean, not Gaza
This
isnāt about how the prime minister is failing Gazans or betraying
Islamic values, but the necessity for countries in the region to engage
with Trump for geopolitical reasons.
In fact, Anwar would be
failing in his stewardship of Asean if he banned Trump, not to mention
making a volatile regional economy worse. Deputy minister M Kulasegaran
was correct when he pointed out that regional meetings should not be
dominated by a single issue.
I
wonder if the Umno Youth chief will carry out his protests in front of
Trump if he visits? Akmal talked big and said, āLet us face Trump
head-on! Hurting them (Global Sumud Flotilla activists) is the same as
hurting all of us Malaysians!ā
But when push comes to shove, will
the local agitator dare go against the Madani security apparatus, which
would be out in full force for Trumpās visit?
Picking on āapeksā
is one thing; going against the state when it comes to a visiting
dignitary who happens to be the most powerful man in the free world,
another.
The recent outrageous behaviour by the state security
apparatus in the protests outside the US embassy is demonstrative of how
the state is losing control of the situation after enabling
anti-Jewish, as opposed to anti-Zionist, agitators within Malaysian
society.
Police arresting a protester outside the US Embassy during a demonstration on Oct 2
People
clutching their pearls about the optics of anti-Trump/Israel protests
presented to other Asean leaders need to take a chill pill or two.
Protests
against Trump happen every time he visits most countries. And let us
face facts, countries in Asean, for the most part, arenāt models of
democratic imperatives.
Now,
governments may want to clamp down on protests to pucker up to him, but
this is more of a reflection on the kind of leaders Trump admires than
any real bad optics to other visiting leaders.
Trump is only interested in making dodgy deals with Middle Eastern potentates and having other world leaders kiss his rear end.
Anwar should not focus too much on Gaza
If I were Anwarās handlers, I would be concerned about pushing the Gaza agenda forcefully for a couple of reasons.
The first is that there is no unified perspective of Asean countries when it comes to the genocide in Gaza.
While
the propaganda arms of the state are painting this as an opportunity
for the prime minister to engage Trump on the Gaza genocide, the reality
is that Asean countries would rather not have Gaza overshadow the
issues they are facing with Trumpās economic terrorism.
The second is that Malaysia is supporting a group that the US has designated as a terrorist organisation.
Anwar
has claimed that he didnāt bow to pressure when advocating for Gazans.
The prime minister, for whatever reason, has not made any nuanced
comments about Hamas.
This is unlike other world leaders who have
condemned Israelās atrocities, are willing to recognise Palestine as a
state, but also acknowledge that Hamas is a destabilising presence in
the Middle East.
The optics could play out very badly for the
prime minister if he publicly engages Trump on this issue and turns the
summit into a manure show.
However, if Anwar does not publicly
address the issue with Trump, this would leave him open to attacks from
Perikatan Nasional about how he is betraying Gazans, the Islamic faith,
and people who oppose Trump and Israel in this country. But this is the
game Anwar set up for himself.
Much ado about nothing
Ultimately, Trumpās visit means very little because nothing this president says means anything.
This
is a president whose imposition of tariffs is hurting his country, not
to mention, as the Singapore prime minister said, disrupting
international laws and norms.
This is a president who threatens
economically successful states controlled by his political opponents
with military intervention.
This is a president who engages in the
kind of corruption, especially with Middle Eastern countries, that
would make former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak blush.
This is a
president who posts AI-generated misinformation on X and relies on
gullible saps here and abroad to disseminate false information.
This
is a president who plays on the grievances of people who are frustrated
with the system, but are unable to understand, for whatever reason,
that he only serves the plutocratic class.
Anwar may catch Trump
in one of his sundowning moments, and either hilarity or big beautiful
deals for Malaysia could be achieved. Either way, this is the US
president the world and Madani must deal with.
